The port on Ring Island.
A damp, sweltering cabin.
Sesame Paste sat cross-legged beside an electric lamp, reading aloud to the children gathered around her from a storybook she had borrowed from Si Si.
At first, Misa had been the only one doing this, hoping to ease the restless children's boredom while teaching them how to read and write.
Later, Sesame Paste joined in as well.
Thanks to that, she had recently noticed that her Human Alliance language had improved considerably, especially her reading and writing. She could now read some simple texts normally even without VM.
Squatting beside Sesame Paste, a little girl of around seven or eight hugged her knees and stared fixedly at the cat ears bobbing atop her head.
When the story ended, she finally could not contain her curiosity and spoke softly in a sweet, timid voice.
"Big sister."
"What is it?" Sesame Paste turned the page and looked at the little girl with a gentle smile.
Sesame Paste remembered that the girl's name was Gooseberry.
Her father was an orchard farmer. After entrusting her to the ship, he had disappeared into the jungle outside Golden Gallon Port with the other Moon Tribe members determined to resist.
Like many of the children here, she had no family aboard the ship, and Misa had been taking care of her the whole time.
The girl looked shyly at Sesame Paste. After hesitating in embarrassment for a while, she finally voiced what was on her mind.
"Are you the Silver Moon Goddess's messenger?"
Sesame Paste paused slightly, blinked, and asked.
"Why do you ask?"
"Because everyone says so... everyone on the ship," the girl continued quietly. "I was wondering... maybe the Silver Moon Goddess of Silver Moon Bay and the Moon God of the Brahma Province are actually